Best-Practice Introduction Planning
Intent
Introduce new practices in a controlled way that teams can adopt without destabilising delivery, while preserving enforceable standards.
When to Use
- •Introducing new linters, formatters, analyzers, or checks
- •Rolling out architectural conventions or repo policy updates
- •Standardising patterns across multiple components/teams
Precondition Failure Signal
- •New practices are proposed without adoption plan
- •Rollout would break existing components immediately
- •Teams bypass standards because they feel imposed or unclear
- •“Big bang” changes create churn and resistance
Postcondition Success Signal
- •Rollout plan is incremental, scoped, and reviewable
- •Adoption phases are clear with measurable checkpoints
- •Exceptions are documented and time-bounded
- •Standards become enforceable rather than aspirational
Process
- •Source Review: Audit existing practices and identify gaps or inconsistencies that the new practice addresses.
- •Implementation: Draft the incremental adoption plan and define measurable checkpoints.
- •Verification: Validate the plan against the "Postcondition Success Signal" and ensure it does not block delivery.
- •Documentation: Document the new practice, the rollout plan, and any time-bounded exceptions in the repo or an ADR if it's a major architectural shift.
- •Review: Tech Lead and Platform Engineer review the rollout plan for feasibility and alignment.
Example Test / Validation
- •Demonstrate an initial failing signal (policy gap) and a phased path to passing
- •Validate that early phases do not block delivery while still enforcing progress
- •Confirm measurable criteria exist for moving between phases
Common Red Flags / Guardrail Violations
- •Introducing standards without team communication and documentation
- •Making everything mandatory immediately without remediation runway
- •Creating permanent exceptions “for now”
- •Adding overlapping tools/checks that duplicate intent (DRY violation)
Recommended Review Personas
- •Tech Lead – validates intent, scope, and adoption practicality
- •Platform Engineer – validates enforcement feasibility and maintenance costs
- •Developer Representative – validates usability without weakening policy
Skill Priority
P2 – Consistency & Governance
Conflict Resolution Rules
- •Prefer incremental adoption over big-bang changes (YAGNI)
- •Avoid duplicating existing checks/tools; consolidate intent (DRY)
- •If enforcement would block delivery, define phased enforcement explicitly
Conceptual Dependencies
- •scoped-colocation
- •quality-gate-enforcement
Classification
Governance
Notes
Adoption is part of engineering. Unadopted standards are unimplemented standards.